Brazilian twins, who were joined at the head, have been successfully separated after seven surgeries with the help of a British neurosurgeon.
Bernardo and Arthur Lima, who were born with a fused brain , underwent several operations in Rio de Janeiro, under the direction of Great Ormond Street Hospital pediatric surgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani.
Three-year-old children underwent seven surgical procedures, involving more than 27 hours of operation, only in the final phase, and almost 100 members of medical staff.
It was one of the most complex separation processes ever completed, according to the charity that funded it and that Dr. Jeelani founded in 2018: Gemini Untwined.
Surgeons in London and Rio spent months testing techniques using virtual reality projections of the twins based on CT scans and MRIs, something Jeelani described as “space age stuff.” ”.
Said that for the first time in the world, surgeons from different countries used headsets and operated together in the same “virtual reality room”.
Speaking about the virtual reality aspect of the surgery, Dr Jeelani told the Evening Standard: “It’s just wonderful, it’s really cool to see the anatomy and do the surgery before putting the kids in risk. You can imagine how reassuring that is for surgeons”.
“In some ways, these operations are considered the most difficult of our time, and doing it in virtual reality was really a man on Mars thing ”, he added.
Said previous failed attempts to separate children they meant his anatomy was complicated by scar tissue, and he was “really worried” about the risky procedure.
Jeelani said he was “absolutely devastated” after the 15 hour operation, in which it only took four minute breaks to eat and drink water, but it was “wonderful” to see the family feeling “over the moon” afterwards.
He added that his charity has quickly become a “global repository of knowledge and experience” of separation surgery, and hopes it will serve as a model for a “global health service” that provides expert care. in other rare diseases.
This was Jeelani’s sixth separation procedure with Gemini Untwined, having previously operated on twins from Pakistan, Sudan, Israel and Turkey.
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· Siamese twins from Bhutan are successfully separated
· The extraordinary story of the Siamese twins from Senegal who grow up day by day against all odds
· Siamese twins are separated in Nigeria. It took a team of 78 people